Filed to story: Falling for My Ex's Mafia Dad Novel Free PDF (Fay Alden & Kent Lippert)
Obviously, I don’t understand a word of it. But still, the way that Daniel speaks to the man with complete authority in his voice, almost dismissive…
I realize, quite suddenly, that if these people are kings?
Daniel is very much a long-lost prince, returning home.
The guard steps away for a moment, his eyebrows raised in surprise as he looks Daniel up and down, and then he speaks through a radio to someone presumably inside. A moment passes and then the guard nods to Daniel, pressing a button so that the gate swings forward.As Daniel pulls through the gate and starts down the tree-lined drive ahead of us, the road so long we can’t yet see the house. I take a moment to look over at my husband as we drive, and then I look down at my stomach. Because if Daniel is a prince…
Then this baby, at least on paper? It’s next in line, just after him.
And me? Well…
But all of these thoughts are wiped from my mind as the trees fall away and the largest, grandest house I have ever seen in my entire life rises before us. My mouth legitimately falls open as I stare up at what is honestly a palace made of yellow stone with a broad terra-cotta roof. Flowered vines crawl all over it, climbing walls covered in balconies and terraces and windows that are all thrown open to catch the fresh morning air.
I’m still gaping as Daniel pulls around a stone fountain and puts the car in park in front of the incredible structure that can barely be called a home. Kids run laughing out of a ground-level door, but they completely ignore us, heading for some kind of incredible garden to the left that’s completely bursting with flowers.
Daniel’s face is stern as he unbuckles his seatbelt, but he bursts into laughter when he glances at me and sees my expression.
“Well, Fay,” he says, his face now bright with his smile. “Welcome to Villa Bianci. What do you think?”
I blink at him, completely stunned. “Um,” I say, shaking my head a little in awe, “I think I married the right Lippert.” Daniel laughs again at that and reaches out to put a fond hand on my shoulder.
“Seriously?” I continue, ducking my head so I can peer towards the top of the house. “This is where you spent your summers as a kid?”
“It is.” Daniel says, his voice soft, “But it’s also where Kent grew up.”
My mouth forms into an awed “o” as I realize that Daniel’s right that Kent has soo much history here. This is where he fell in love with Natalia, where he met Lenai…
And my heart wrenches suddenly with guilt to be here without him.
But before I have time to indulge that emotion, a familiar figure strides from the house with open arms. My face breaks into a grin.
“Nephew!” Alessi shouts, and I glance at Daniel to see a wide and genuine smile on his face as he opens his car door and begins to step out. I follow, eager to greet Daniel’s uncle because well, because even as I recognize that Alessi was as much of a snake as Natalia, he was always nice to me. Or at least pretended to be. Like Ivan, I can’t help but like him at least a little.
Alessi and Daniel wrap each other in tight hugs, pounding each other’s backs as I climb out of the car and stand a little awkwardly to the side.
“How are you?” Alessi asks, speaking in English for my benefit. “We were so worried for you we heard about the breakout, and then that you were missing, but nobody answered a phone or any email we didn’t know ”
But before Daniel can answer Alessi breaks away from him, moving towards me and sweeping me up into a hug of my own that makes me laugh with joy. “Fay, it is so good to see you, safe and sound,” he murmurs, his words blurred against my hair as he fondly tucks his head close to mine. He steps back a little then, looking me up and down, his eyes in particular moving to my stomach. “And the baby, yes? The baby is well?”
“Baby’s doing great,” I say with a smile, running a fond hand over my stomach.
Alessi claps his hands together excitedly, apparently genuinely pleased to hear it. And why would he not be? That’s his first great-nephew or -niece, for all he knows. He’s got no real reason to doubt it.
“And your father,” Alessi says, his face dropping a little as he moves again to Daniel’s side. “How is he where is he?” I study Alessi’s face, seeing genuine worry there and I remember again that Kent is more than a brother-in-law to Alessi that they were best friends their entire childhood.
My heart sinks again with guilt, because Kent he really should be here.
But I clench my jaw and work to dismiss the feeling, knowing that it’s not going to do any good. This is chess, after all. There’s no room for stray emotions.
Daniel slowly shakes his head, putting a hand on Alessi’s shoulder. “We don’t know where dad is,” Daniel says, his voice filled with grief. He glances at me and I move to his side, impressed again at how good an actor Daniel can be. I slip what I hope looks like a comforting arm around my husband’s waist.
“What?” Alessi says, shocked, looking between us.
“We left,” Daniel says with a sad shrug, “because we knew, when my father escaped, that they would lock us down maybe even arrest us, even though we weren’t involved. So we fled, wanting to get here as soon as we could. To be with family in these hard times.”
Alessi clicks his tongue and shakes his head, murmuring something mournful in Italian. “I had really hoped,” he says, putting his hands into the pockets of his linen pants, “that he would be with you. My old friend.”
“I know,” Daniel murmurs, shaking his head again and staring at the ground, looking like he carries a great deal of guilt on his shoulders.
Alessi, seeing his nephew sad, springs immediately to action. “Come in, come in!” he says, wrapping an arm around Daniel’s shoulders and leading us both forward. “It is good you are here early we will cook you breakfast, eh? And then we will have a good long talk get you set up here, in your home.”
“Who is here?” Daniel asks, and his face brightens as we enter the house and begin to walk through rooms that I know carry a great deal of nostalgia for him. I watch his face as much as I look at the incredible house around us. It’s wide and expansive, the most impressive house I’ve ever seen, with sweeping staircases and marble floors.
“Everyone is here!” Alessi responds as he leads us quickly through the main part of the house, which is empty, and through to what is clearly an older part of the home. We are soon in a small, slightly cramped, but remarkably cozy and cheerful kitchen that I am surprised and pleased to see is filled with people.
A series of gasps goes through the room and then shouts of “Daniele!” Metal clatters as at least six women of varying ages drop their cooking utensils and dash across the room to throw their arms around their much-missed nephew or cousin or whatever he is to them. I laugh as Daniel is immediately engulfed in a hug that’s at least three people deep, shouting out his greetings to his loved ones.
But as I smile at my husband and his family, waiting patiently to be introduced, movement at the far corner of the kitchen catches my eye.
And as I turn to look, I feel my heart steel as I meet the gaze of the one person who I know is not likely to be thrilled to see me today.
Natalia stands with an eyebrow raised, the knife in her hand paused in the process of slicing onions. Her eyes swiftly move to my stomach, as if checking to see if the baby’s still there, and then dart back up to mine before she gives me a cold smile.
And I lift my chin, feeling my lips turn up just at the corners.
Because even if she’s excited about the baby, I still know precisely how she feels about me. And considering that we showed up without Kent, the love of her life? Well. Perhaps I can intuit why she’s looking at me so coldly.
But what Natalia doesn’t know is that I’ve come to this battleground today with the entire Alden arsenal at my fingertips.
And I have absolutely no problem taking her out if she gets in my way.
“Daniele,” an old woman says with such emotion that my gaze snaps away from Natalia, turning to see Daniel bend down to hug the white-haired woman who is probably half his size. Tears drop from her eyes as she murmurs something to him in Italian, holding him close for a long moment before stepping away to hold his face in her hands.
“Nonna,” Daniel says, beaming at her and laughing as he places his hands softly on her shoulders. “Mi sei mancata, nonna.”
She cries again and wraps him in her arms and I turn my head to the side, a little baffled and confused. The women begin to notice me then, as well as my confused face, and several move over to me.
“Are you the bride!?” One gasps, about Kent’s age, and she reaches for me immediately, pulling me into a hug. “Daniel, is this her!?”
Daniel, his arm still around the old woman, turns and smiles. “Yes, Valentina this is Fay, my wife.”
Valentina beams and then says something loudly in Italian I think interpreting Daniel’s words and a cheer goes up in the kitchen as the women of Daniel’s family swarm towards me, all reaching to give me hugs and kisses. I laugh as I return them, completely overwhelmed and touched by how they immediately accept me as one of their own.
The old woman comes forward last, her withered hands reaching first for my face to study me and then dropping to my pregnant belly, which she brushes with her fingertips. She looks up at me with such hope in her eyes
And guilt just rolls in me because I think this is Daniel’s grandmother, and she thinks that this is her first great-grandchild
She asks me a soft question in Italian that makes the women laugh softly. I just shake my head, looking towards Daniel for help.
He slips his hands into his pockets, looking at me with a great deal of pleasure. “She wants to know if you’re pregnant, or you just ate a lot of linguine.”